Life Can be a Beach in Melbourne

Friday was supposed to have been Day Four of the test but England had already managed to lose what should have been a five day game in less than three. It meant that a lot of England supporters, including us, were a little lost. What shall we do? The weather was much better, but not quite hot enough to lie on the beach, so we decided to go for a long city walk.

Firstly, we walked to Alma Rd and looked at the outside of the flat we lived in eight years ago. Nothing much has changed there. We continued our walk, via Chapel Street passing all the interesting off beat shops and designer clothing shops, all the way up to the MCG. From there we walked to Federation Square and soaked up the vibes. Finally, we enjoyed a pint in the 'Young and Jackson', a pub opposite Flinders St Station, eight years after first intending to do so. We then decided we had done enough walking for the day, so we caught a tram back to St Kilda.

Back at the apartment, we should have been getting ready for a meal out, but instead sat around enjoying a few beers. This set us back a couple of hours, which ended up having a detrimental effect on the evening ahead. When we finally did leave, at 8.30pm, we were all a little hungry. Unfortunately, upon reaching Lygon St, we settled for the first restaurant that we came across. We must give it to them, though. They certainly know how to microwave and serve food quickly, but the meal was a big disappointment. We decided to give dessert a miss and head back to the appartment to finish off our beers and finally crack open the Christmas Freddo!

Saturday dawned, the last day of our holiday. The weather was great, so a day on St Kilda beach was called for. Andy and Jenny were also up for a day of lazing around. St Kilda attracts a lot of day visitors and as it would have been Day 5 of the test there were still a lot of English supporters in Melbourne, also enjoying the lovely weather.

Pete and Andy went into the water to play a ‘throw the ball at each other and make a spectacular catching dive' game. Jenny joined in later, when the game was changed to ‘piggy in the middle’. Chantal kindly stayed behind on the beach, to look after the bags.

Luck would have it that Chantal spotted Denise walking past, with her husband Tony. Jenny & Chantal played cricket together with Denise, for the New Forest Ladies' Cricket Club, back in England. Denise and Tony sat down with us all and we caught up with the team gossip. It was nice seeing someone you know, that far away from home.

Jenny and Andy left the beach around 3.30pm, to get their bags packed as they were catching the overnight bus to Sydney. We stayed a little longer, but went back to the apartment around 4.30pm so that we could all have an early dinner together. There were some sausages that had to be eaten!

After Jenny and Andy left we packed our suitcase and tidied up the apartment. This included two trips to the bins in the basement, to recycle all the empty alcohol bottles. Not a bad effort everyone! And yes, Chantal did polish off the bottle of Vodka nicely that evening!

Sunday (New Year's Eve) was 'Departure Day'. Sad, but it was true: our holiday had come to an end. We both have such fond memories of St Kilda. It is a great place, and we both would have loved to have spent a bit more time there. Oh well! Hopefully there will be a next time. Who knows? The Ashes are back in Australia in 2010...

The flight home was with Pacific Blue, a subsidiary of Virgin. We both were looking forward to getting home to see our little cottage, to collect Tinkerbell and of course prepare for New Year's Eve Celebrations.

Testing Times in Melbourne

Day One

We witnessed a poor England batting performance and sat in drizzle early on in the day's play. However, we did see Shane Warne take his 700th test wicket (See previous article: 'An Engaging Day in Melbourne')

Day Two
England performed poorly again! This time the weather was better behaved, as it did not rain, but it was still cold sitting up high in the stands. England took two wickets before we arrived to leave Australia on 80 something for 5. At that point, we felt hopeful, but Symonds and Hayden put a stop to that and ended a 'dragging' day by making batting look extremely easy.

View from the nose bleed seats

Day Three
We arrived late for the third day of the test, which meant we missed three wickets fall. By the time we had properly settled in our seats England was batting again and chasing a big score. We were hopeful of a good performance this time but, as you probably know, the win (or even a draw) did not materialise.

During the day we moved seats to be in the sun and warm up. The 'new' seats happened to be close to where the Barmy Army contingent was seated. Their singing, although repetitive, kept us entertained.

At the end of the game, Shane Warne was awarded Player of the Match. We hung around, in case he was going to do a lap of honour, but he did not. He probably wanted to get to the changing room for a beer and a fag! Anyway, an hour after the game had ended, the Barmy Army was still singing and clapping, but for us it was time to go.

All over in less than three days

We had arranged to meet Andy & Jenny at the 'Elephant & Wheelbarrow' pub, in St Kilda, for a bite to eat. The meals were fine, but we did not stay too long, as there were still many dessert type items to be eaten back at the apartment. From the pub, we caught a tram but got off after two stops because it was just too rude to pass the Espy without having a beer. So a couple more jugs were consumed. We did eventually make it home for pudding!

An Engaging Day in Melbourne

Boxing Day began with a heart stopping surprise! Pete woke me up and handed me a small present. He had not found an appropriate opportunity the day before so just before breakfast he finally ‘presented’ me with a ‘rock’ and popped the question. Of course I said yes!!!!Exhibit A

Boxing Day also saw my fiancé and I make the tried and tested trip to the MCG, for the first day of the Fourth Test. Unfortunately, the England team did not seem to want to join in with our celebrations and played extremely poor cricket. The weather did not help either; twice play was stopped due to rain.
It was just as well that Shane Warne put on a show and celebrated with us, by taking his 700th test wicket.After the cricket, back at the apartment we celebrated our engagement with a nice bottle of Chandon champagne, courtesy of Jenny and Andy. Thanks, it was a good vintage!

Christmas in Melbourne

Friday the 22nd of December saw us leaving the comfort of our home to fly to Melbourne for a week long holiday of sun, drink, food and obligatory cricket watching. Of course Tinkerbell didn’t miss out on a holiday, as she was dropped off at a local ‘cat hotel’ for the week. She must have been looking forward to it as she certainly made a lot of noise on the journey!

As per usual, preparations were not completed until the last minute! Only a few hours before we were due to fly, Pete remembered that visas were needed for entry into Australia. Something we were aware of but had slipped our minds. Thanks to the wonder of the internet the forgotten official entry documents were quickly acquired and we were able to set off to the airport.

The flight to Melbourne was uneventful. Upon arrival in Melbourne, we met Fred (a friend of Chantal’s aunt) and spent the following two days with him and his girlfriend (Sue). Fred is a fantastic host, and we enjoyed the time we spent with him. On Sunday, he even drove us to St Kilda, where we had rented an apartment for the following week.

Christmas in St Kilda

On Sunday, we settled ourselves into the apartment and claimed the master bedroom, leaving the twin room for Jenny and Andy. As soon as the suitcase was unpacked and the mini Christmas Tree had been errected, we walked to the supermarket and liquor store, to stock up on some much needed essentials: beer!

That evening after Jenny and Andy arrived, we all went to the supermarket, to stock up on the ‘healthy’ foods needed for a Christmas Day gorgefest. The plan was to spend Christmas Day on the beach, enjoying a picnic and cooling down with dips in the sea. The trip to the supermarket was a comical affair, with all sorts of products (mini Battenberg anyone?) being thrown into the trolley! Once back in the apartment, we continued drinking and had a pleasant, if not slightly intoxicated Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day dawned but with great disappointment we soon discovered that the weather god had been unkind. It was a cold, damp, dreary, British style Christmas Day. In fact, it turned out to be Melbourne's coldest Christmas for 70 years. Not quite what we had expected!

Chantal was desperate to unwrap the pressies, which we had brought along with us but Pete was being mean and insisted on having breakfast first. A sausage and egg breakfast, accompanied with a bottle of Lindauer Fraise was devoured before permission to unwrap was granted. (Thanks Jenny and Andy for the Micronations book and chocolate.)

To work off some calories we went for a walk, through Acland St, and were amazed at how many shops were open. Honestly, who wants to buy shoes on Christmas Day? We continued walking and even went onto the beach (fully clothed). However, the cold, inclement weather did not deter Pete and Andy, who had to paddle in the water.

The beach really was not that pleasant and inviting; even a rat had turned his nose up to the weather.

We ended up at the 'Espy', where we sheltered from the horrible weather with jugs of beer and a few games of pool. Eventually, we felt we had to leave the Espy so, via the Acland St continental cake shops, we went back to the apartment and treated ourselves to some cream filled, sugary delicacies. The rest of the day was spent indulging in the feast that was meant to be our beach Christmas Picnic.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Even though, it still feels like a long way off Christmas, the festive season has ‘officially’ arrived. The Sunday before last saw us and 115 000 others lining the streets, waiting to see good old Santa arrive in Christchurch. The weather was fine (dry but not too hot) so it was pretty comfortable to stand and watch the parade of seventy or so decorated floats go past. Guess which one brought up the rear?

The iconic Buzzy Bee - All kiwi kids have a Buzzy Bee toy.

Some floats were better than others, and some carried more ostentatious advertising than others (Think ginger haired, white faced, freaky clowns and you will know one of the offenders). That did not really detract from it though and we still had an enjoyable afternoon. To be honest we did not know that New Zealand went in for ‘American style’ Christmas parades but we do now as Santa Claus/Father Christmas seems to be arriving in all the local towns at the moment on the back of a flat bed truck and accompanied by Salvation Army bands.

Yes. It's the expensive Haaglund ride advertising the new exhibit at the Antarctic Centre: Little Blie Penguins

Who invited the tulip munchers?

Okay, the Santa Parade is mainly for children, but we are young at heart and not having grown up in Christchurch, this was new for us. Locals, however, have already spoiled it for next year. Apparently we will see the same floats again!

Here he comes!

Movember

Certain friends of mine have long said that I was born to grow a moustache. I can see their point, as even when I have had a close wet-shave there is still a shadowy patch of skin over my top lip. Not being a fan of face fuzz, I just ignored their 'advice' and resisted the urge to resemble a member of The Village People. Last month, though, I decided to experiment with the growing and grooming of some facial hair. But why did I do a thing like that? Was it because I have renamed myself Bruce, am growing a mullet and wear thick, checkered shirts; in order to fully integrate into New Zealand culture? No, but I shall explain.

"Look straight ahead for the mugshot, Sir and then we will take your prints"

In New Zealand, (and I believe Australia) November was renamed Movember for the simple reason that men, all over the country, were encouraged to grow a ‘mo’ for charity. The idea behind this was that it would become a talking point and in turn raise awareness of prostate cancer. Apparently, it is the third most common cause of male deaths by a cancer in New Zealand. To support this good cause, a group of work colleagues and members of my indoor cricket team, ‘The Brown Pants’, decided to spend Movember growing and grooming a 'mo'.

Throughout the month, as the ‘moes’ developed (even though this was hard to tell on some people), well hidden family lineage began to emerge. Ginger or gorilla gene carriers were outed! After a couple of weeks, it was time to make a choice of style and to start shaping them. Shall it be a fiddly Poirot one, a butch biker effort, Hitler style, a spiv one or even a c*$kduster? The choice was difficult. Well, not quite as hair refused to grow in one or two places for some of us. I wanted the biker look but unfortunately had a couple of bare patches that prevented it fully developing. In the end, after being told it was not ‘Goatvember’, I shaved off most of the goatie and opted for the French artist look. Well, that was what I was told I looked like. Not sure if that was a good or bad thing. In any case it made it clear to everyone I met that I was participating in Movember and had not grown my mo because I thought it looked good!

After a month of growing and last minute Friday morning grooming, the ‘moes' were presented at the office ‘last Friday of the month drinks’ gathering. $1 was paid to cast a vote for best 'mo' but, in order to maximise revenue for charity people could vote as many times as they wished. Needless to say, there were a few tighties that only cast one vote! Incidentally, $1 is approximately 40p! Unfortunately, I did not win due to some dubiuous casting of votes!

It’s now December and the mo has gone. Actually, it went a day before it was due to as I had an interview for a job on the 29^th November so I thought it was best to look my best. Of course, I had to shave the 'mo' off little by little to create the Hitler look. Everyone does it, surely?Will I do it again next year? I don’t see why not!

Chaplin or Hitler?

Chillin' in Summer

Last Thursday was the last day of spring, so it is now officially summer! That should mean the wearing of thick clothes is just a distant memory and that the long days can be spent lazing on the beach slurping ice creams. However, bear in mind that this is New Zealand, and notice I wrote ‘should’, before looking at the photos below.

These photos show how summer arrived for parts of the South Island. Admittedly, they were not taken in any of the major cities or towns but are of inland rural districts. I think they are of the highway somewhere between Twizel and Lake Tekapo, possibly near the Lindis Pass area. The land is higher there but one still does not expect to see snow, at this time of year. Here in Christchurch the temperature was a balmy 9˚C during the afternoon, dropping from 19˚C at midnight, and we were also treated to a thundery hailstorm. Mad!

Another strange and rare event that has been grabbing the headlines is the rogue iceberg that is slowly travelling up the east coast of the South Island. Apparently it broke off an Antarctic ice shelf six years ago, somehow escaped the Antarctic currents and is now somewhere off the Canterbury coast. A couple of weeks ago it was even possible to see it from the Dunedin shore (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-11-17-iceberg-new-zealand_x.htm). Of course, people have been quick to exploit the financial potential of it so scenic flights have been put on. A helicopter even landed on it so that people could take a walk. (http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3867543a7693,00.html) Remember Shrek the Sheep? Well he was taken to the berg to be shorn, for his 1oth birthday (See http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Shrek-the-sheep-has-close-shave-on-ice/2006/11/29/1164476250599.html)

Yes, that is a helicopter in the bottom left corner.

Why are these things happening? Has humankind really affected the weather patterns through the burning of fossil fuels and farming flatulent cattle, or is just part of the normal cycle of varying global temperatures. You decide. One thing is for sure though, we immediately notice any strange weather event and seek an explanation for it.